Merry Christmas and here’s to a great 2021!

Dear colleagues, business partners, and friends,

A crazy year is coming to an end. Never before have public institutions invested so heavily in new forms of mobility. Initiatives such as ride-sharing, electric mobility, and intermodal platforms have been promoted, further developed, and brought to market readiness.

Ideas that we long believed were only suitable for big cities have now reached rural areas, where they are effectively expanding public transportation. One example is the further development of traditional shared-ride taxi services, which are gradually being upgraded with modern booking and dispatch methods and are reaching new target groups. The combination of long-standing experience in the service area with modern technologies has led to new and attractive offerings here.

What does this mean for 2021? Will we all be getting around in small, electric vehicles everywhere? Will everyone book and pay for their rides exclusively on their smartphones? If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that we can certainly do one without having to give up the other. Of course, we can still let our passengers call a call center to order on-demand transportation. Of course, cash payments are still accepted, as long as the driver can correctly record the amount in the ticketing software.

In the coming years, it will certainly be of paramount importance that we effectively integrate the various forms of mobility with the new technologies available, thereby creating an attractive option for passengers that serves as a viable alternative to private cars. We are working on this.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Kay Tewes